The last push of the three week training block is over. Today the CVTC-team wrapped it all up with a rollerski race at the Olympic venue. The sprinters did a full sprint race with four rounds playing with different techniques, striding, double poling and so on. What was fastest? We wont tell you, we will show you in the winter! The distance skiers did a freestyle race with individual start over 10km and 15km. All the athletes starts to look a little tired but that’s also the plan right now. Next week is a recovery week and coming back they should be ready to go again. Then we’ll do some more testing again to make sure everyone is heading in the right direction.

Women 10km F
1 Maria Lundgren 31:08
2 Emily 31:28
3 Leah 32:43

Men 15km F
1 Jesse 38:38
2 Pat 40:07
3 Alistair 49:34

Men sprint C
1 Chris
2 Thomsen

The CVTC-team is in a good place, the athletes are doing well and the team spirit is coming along in a really good way. Finally the last work on the rollerski loop at Whistler Olympic Park is done and the trails are connected. Now we have 4.5km of great rollerskiing to play around with before the snow keeps coming. We still also have 10km of access road and some parking lots to go crazy on.

Yesterday the athletes did a rollerski threshold session 1-3 times 4.5km. We did the exact same workout one week ago and now the goal was to go with the same heart rate and lactate but faster! Everyone executed well and did the loop in better times.

We have definitely seen a change in the weather with cold mornings. Still though it gets really warm during the day and training without a t-shirt makes it’s hard to believe it’s October (!). But today the rain started, the rain everyone has been talking about for a long time. Last year it stayed for 18 days. The weather forecast says sun again in three days but we don’t know. We do know that the athletes will end a block of three weeks with good training with a race. We will have a 10/15km freestyle race for our distance skiers and a head to head race for our sprinters. It all takes place Saturday morning at the Olympic venue. Stay tuned for results and pictures. Or if you’re passing, stop by and cheer the athletes on!

Black Tusk is one of the most epic hikes in the area. The sharp peak is rising 2319 meters above sea level and the view is amazing. It’s a popular route for tourists to hike up to the meadows below the peak and yesterday the CVTC-team went for an over distance run in the area. Starting at an elevation of 600 meters half of the team went up and down the same way while the older guys did a point-to-point loop.

The weather has been amazing this summer but the fall comes rolling in and because of some clouds, freezing point at 1600 m of elevation and quit a bit of new snow (!). No one was able to climb the last pitch to the top. But still everyone ended around 5 hours.

After a week of good solid training the CVTC-team drove down to Vancouver for the Annual Grouse Grind Mountain Run. It’s a short race in terms of distance but a steep one! Over 500 athletes lined up at the start and after 28 minutes the fastest male crossed the finish line. First to reach the top of the CVTC-athletes was Jesse followed by Patrick O’Brien, who is training with us during the fall, Alistair, Sam and Thomsen. Fastest female made it up to the top in 31:30. That’s a fast time and faster than most of the males. Standing at the top watching the race t imight look easy but as Patrick said during the last climb “You try to beat her!”

Coach Amy showed the girls on the team how it’s done and made it to the top ahead of Emily and Bryn.

It’s a tough and really steep race witch makes it far from a regular running race. But it’s good training, it pushes your limits and by the time snow falls we should be ready for racing fast!

Results

Three days after we came back from the Nipika camp, the US Team did skating pickups at the Nordic venue. Setting up three stations for 10-15 seconds of high speed. One starting station, one uphill/transition station and one drop in station. The US guys have definitely done their homework this summer and they were fast. Most impressive was Andy Newell who really showed good technique, high speed and good timing.

The day after was a double poling workout up the access road, 5 times 4 minutes. Also with high speed and good body position. The gradual uphill along the access road makes it a really good double poling road. Everyone did a great job and from beside we could see Kikkan Randall hanging in with the guys for a long time, impressive.

The Nipika camp and the visit by the US Ski Team has given the CVTC athletes a lot of inspiration and we’re all excited to push it even harder during the fall.

“Nipika” sounds familiar? Probably not but between Lake Louise and Radium Hot Springs you will find Nipika Mountain Lodge. A beautiful place with an amazing view over the mountains. The CVTC athletes joined Team 2010 for one of their fall camps and it was a good one.

Team 2010 is the Canadian development team and in a couple of years, hopefully the next step for the CVTC athletes. So the plan was to have them jump in behind and feel the level, the attitude and the speed, and they sure did. After a night in Lake Louise the camp started out with a distance workout, skate rollerskiing, for 3:30 along the road to Nipika. Before going home on Friday lunch the athlete also could check two intensity workouts; running and rollerskiing, two more distance workouts, a couple of easy runs between 1h-1.30h around the lodge and a visit the hot spring in Radium.

It was a great camp and the CTVC athletes learned a lot. Some were more tired than then the others going back home but they are all inspired. There’s still some ground to cover before they can be up there but it’s definitely not impossible.

Thanks to coach Eric de Nys and Team 2010 (Amanda Ammar, Sean Crooks, Philip Widmer and Dave Nighbor) for letting us join the camp and to Nipika Mountain Lodge for having us!

The team did a great job again and after three tests so far we have seen new personal records by eight out of nine athletes, awesome!

As recovery between the first two test days the whole team headed up to the Nordic venue for some Olympic inspiration. After a request by Chandra Crawford, who was there together with some of her teammates, to get some cheering during a running sprint relay. Morgan jumped in at the work out and did a great job. For shorter periods we also had some of our guys jumping in behind. It’s a good experience to feel the speed and the energy and also to realize that these guys are fast, but not unbeatable. Testing week continues on Tuesday with sub-max and VO2max tests on the treadmill.

The first test during the CVTC testing week was the running time trial. It’s uphill and a lot of it. In fact the whole course is just up, up, up and no place for recovery. You go too fast in the beginning and you’re done. You go too slow in the beginning and you wont get a good time. The first half it’s about pace and then just to go all out with everything have.

The girls started off first. Bryn, Emily and Leah who is new on the team and just arrived after a busy biking season. Just over 30 minutes later they reached the finish line. Then we had Jesse, Pate, Alistair, Sam and Thomsen at times just over 20 minutes. There’s still some time left to the course record by Kris Freeman but over all it was a good test. We had several personal records showing that the athletes are on the right way.

Course record: Kris Freeman 21:17

Jesse Heckrodt 22:22
Pate Neumann 23:07
Alistair H-P 23:17
Sam Lindsey 25:03
Thomsen D’Hont 25:15

Leah Kirchmann 33:18
Bryn Knight 34:13
Emily Nishikawa 34:59

The spectacular cliffs with a really cool light shining down the ravine made the place pretty special. Good jumping opportunities, some climbing and relaxing in the sun. We’re definitely coming back!

Up next for the CVTC team is a test week with a double pole / no pole test, uphill time trial and a Vo2 Max test.